How to save money on your engagement ring!

If you’ve got someone special in your life and you’re thinking of popping the question, you’re probably worried about the cost of the engagement ring. Conventional wisdom states that you should give up two months’ salary for the ring, but that’s not a viable option for everyone: if you’re on a low income, it can be almost impossible to save two months’ worth of it without seriously affecting your quality of life. But don’t panic: we’re here to help you get the ring your partner deserves at a price you can afford. There are numerous tricks and tactics you can deploy to get an engagement ring for a lower price, and we’re going to share some of them with you!

Have you considered purchasing a second-hand or vintage engagement ring? You might assume that these rings are lower-quality than their first-hand counterparts. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not everyone’s engagement works out the way they hoped. As a result, you can often find engagement rings on eBay and similar sites that are in a pristine condition but have dramatically lowered prices. Of course, you may feel uncomfortable about buying a ‘used’ engagement ring, but these rings were intended to be symbols of affection. Isn’t it better to use them as such, rather than letting them languish at the bottom of someone’s jewellery box? Alternatively, vintage rings may have similarly reduced prices but retain a classical, timeless beauty. Either way, you can get higher-quality rings for substantially lower prices if you’re willing to sacrifice newness.

If you have your heart set on a first-hand engagement ring, however, you should consider taking a trip to either London or Birmingham. Both of these cities have jewellery districts that are renowned around the globe: London has Hatton Garden and Birmingham has the Jewellery Quarter. The best thing about these districts is that the traders who operate there are fiercely competitive and offer some of the cheapest ring prices in the country.

However, there’s one truly bizarre way you can reduce the price of your engagement ring: with Tesco Clubcard Points. Under normal circumstances, each ‘point’ you have on your Tesco Clubcard is worth 1p. However, you can trade your points in for vouchers with certain stores: this triples the value of each point you trade in to 3p. One of the stores you can get vouchers for is Goldsmiths, one of UK’s premier jewellers. In other words, every 100 points you earn on your Tesco Clubcard while doing your normal shopping could net you £30 off the price of your engagement ring at Goldsmiths!

These are just three of the ways you can save money on your engagement ring. If you have any more, feel free to share them in our ‘comments’ section!